UK chemicals industry told the time for action is now

June 23rd 2025

The UK chemicals industry has been urged to stop treading water and be bold in finding sustainable solutions.

Dr Jen Vanderhoven, Chief Operating Officer of the Biobased and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA), told business leaders and academics that the time for action was now.

“We´ve had the meetings, the road maps, the pilot projects, and we´ve published lots of reports and made commitments. But despite all these good intentions, much of our energy has actually just gone into staying afloat, maintaining the status quo rather than moving forwards,” she said.

“The reality is that the current is moving and it´s moving incredibly fast. So climate pressures, regulatory shifts, societal expectations and supply chain fragility are all reshaping our world. And the question is no longer whether we act, but how fast we can act and how bold we can be.”

Dr Vanderhoven was speaking at “Reimagining Carbon & Defossilising the UK Chemicals Industry” which took place at the Wilton Centre near Redcar and was organised by its operator, Pioneer Group, in partnership with the government-backed Innovate UK Business Connect.

The event saw the launch of the Sustainable Chemicals Innovation Network which has been established to address the UK chemical industry’s ambition to source 80% of its carbon requirement from non-virgin fossil, sustainable carbon sources by 2050.

Dr Peter Clark, Head of Chemistry and Industrial Biotechnology at Innovate UK Business Connect, said: “The Sustainable Chemicals Innovation Network will bring together industry, researchers and disruptive innovators to meet, share knowledge, develop new cross-discipline and collaborative supply chain projects. The network will act as a strategic linker between industry stakeholders and government to address the move to a sustainable future.”

Dr Graeme Cruickshank, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) told members of the audience that they had to collaborate to transform their industry’s reputation and work towards a defossilised future.

“Our sector has been forgotten for many years because it was too hard to understand,” he said. “We need to find ways to help people understand that we make things that touch and improve their lives every day, and can create wealth and from that create growth.”

That understanding was growing: “Chemicals have actually become something that´s no longer a dirty word. We need to reposition UK chemical industry for tomorrow´s growth, and not yesterday´s mess. We are foundational to the UK´s economy.”

Pioneer Executive Director Toby Reid said: “At the heart of Net Zero challenge is the need to wean ourselves off the petrochemical based products that make up a large part of our consumption as a society. Rather than digging up more virgin fossil fuels we need to create bio-derived feedstocks for these commonplace manufacturing processes. The Chemicals industry is the key player in this transition and so we are delighted to host events like this. The Wilton Centre is home to many exciting companies driving this modern green industrial revolution.”

This was the first of a series of Pioneer Presents events to take place there this year. On 1 September the subject will be “Building with Biology: Bio-based Materials for Retrofit & New Build” followed by the UK Sustainable Chemicals Summit on 18 November.

As well as the Redcar site, Pioneer - a leading developer of life science ecosystems, integrating R&D infrastructure, venture investment and support – operates another 11 sites across the UK and Ireland.

There will be opportunities at each Pioneer Presents to network and also be taken on a tour of the Wilton Centre, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Earlier this year it was given planning permission for the Wilton Freeport Development: nearly 150,000 sq. ft of new technical/manufacturing space, laboratories and offices.